Cocoa Trade Competitiveness In Southeast Sulawesi Province

Abstract

The export value of cocoa commodities from Indonesia fluctuated between 2017 and 2020 and tended to decline, even though the export value of the agricultural sector continued to increase from 2018 to 2020. Southeast Sulawesi is one of the cocoa-producing regions that has the second largest area of productive cocoa plantations and cocoa production in Indonesia, after Central Sulawesi. However, the productivity of cocoa farming in Southeast Sulawesi ranks last on the island of Sulawesi, with Southeast Sulawesi's cocoa productivity being in 6th place on the island in 2019, and 5th place in 2020.  The above conditions will impact the competitiveness of cocoa bean trade in Indonesia. The research aims to analyse the competitiveness of Southeast Sulawesi Province in the national cocoa bean trade market.  This research is classified as descriptive research with a quantitative approach.   The analytical tool used to achieve the research objectives is Revealed Comparative Advantage. (RCA). The research results indicate that Southeast Sulawesi Province has weak competitiveness in cocoa bean trade at the national level.  The low competitiveness of Southeast Sulawesi Province in cocoa bean trade is caused by several factors, including: 1) the low productivity of cocoa farming in Southeast Sulawesi Province; 2) not all cocoa beans produced in Southeast Sulawesi are exported through the export port in Kendari City; most of the cocoa beans produced in North Kolaka Regency and Kolaka Regency are exported through the export port in South Sulawesi Province; 3) some cocoa beans produced in Southeast Sulawesi Province are not exported because they are processed by local processing industries in Southeast Sulawesi Province. The government is expected to enhance productivity at the cocoa commodity development centres to achieve an increase in the competitiveness of cocoa bean trade produced in Southeast Sulawesi Province.

Keywords: Competitiveness, Trade, Cocoa Farming, Cocoa Beans